Find Network QoS Policies in Windows Registry

Network Quality of Service (QoS) policies allow administrators to manage network traffic by prioritizing bandwidth and controlling data transmission rates for specific applications or protocols. In Windows, these configurations are managed through Group Policy and stored directly within the Windows Registry. This guide details the exact registry paths where registered policy-based QoS configurations reside, how to navigate to them using the Registry Editor (Regedit), and the key parameters stored within these entries.

Registry Locations for QoS Policies

Depending on whether a QoS policy is applied at the computer level or the user level, the settings are located in one of two keys within the Windows Registry.

1. Machine-Level QoS Policies

For policies that apply globally to the entire computer regardless of the signed-in user, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\QoS

2. User-Level QoS Policies

For policies targeted at individual user accounts, navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\QoS

Note: If no custom QoS policies have been configured on the system via Group Policy or script, the QoS key may not exist under \Windows\ by default.

How to Access QoS Policies Using Regedit

  1. Press Win + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter (or click OK).
  3. If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to allow administrative access.
  4. Copy and paste either path into the address bar at the top of the Registry Editor window and press Enter.

Structure of Stored QoS Policy Entries

Under the QoS key, each configured policy appears as its own subkey named after the policy. Inside each policy subkey, you will find several string and DWORD values defining the traffic conditions: